New System No Beep No Vid...

[Matthew Unger]

Hey,

I just built a new system for keeping the books and i have a big
problem. here's the set-up:

Asrock Mobostar M266 mainboard
Celeron 2.4
cdrw
300 Watt power supply
384 MB SDRAM

(very bare-bones)

the video is on-board (shared 32mb)as is the sound 2-channel.

Everything but the powersupply and the mainboard is new. I installed
everything, it started up without video or beeping and shut itself
down. afterwards, it would do the same thing - fans are running, hdd
is running, cdrw is running, floppy checks - but no video, no init
beep. I have ran it off my other system's 400 watt power supply and
same thing. I put in ddr ram instead of sdram (both of which were
pulled from a working system). I haven't been able to get to the bios
yet, so i can't adjust anything here. meanwhile, i have also cleared
the CMOS after each move. I tried my other video card and same thing.
i have even tried removing all memory to see if it would beep angrily
at me and nothing. I have read a few posts here with the same problem
but nothing has worked yet. Is it possible that i fried the new cpu?
or is the motherboard (bought off ebay - previous owner said it was
new, but sold as is) right fried and pooched? i would very much
appreciate any help somebody knowledgeable could offer.

thanks,
matt

 

[Bronney Hui]

Matthew,

Putting in a hard drive would really help since you never mentioned it.

 

[Papa]

Hi Matthew:

You purchased a used Asrock. I did the same thing (on eBay). The mobo I
received was dead. I returned it. Then the seller sent me 2 more. They were
both dead too. Fortunately the seller gave me a full refund, and didn't even
ask me to send the mobos back, so I am sure he knew they might be
problematic. I trashed them all and purchased a new motherboard locally.
Then everything worked.

One thing you cannot do is use DDR and SDRAM at the same time. If you do
that the system will not boot.

I suggest you try a "bare-bones" test. Remove everything from the
motherboard except one memory chip and the CPU and heatsink/fan. Make sure
the CPU fan is plugged into the motherboard. Disconnect the power supply
from the motherboard. Disconnect the keyboard and mouse. Disconnect the
monitor. Remove the motherboard from the case and set it on a non-conductive
surface such as a piece of cardboard. Reconnect the monitor. Plug the power
supply back into the motherboard. Short across the motherboard power switch
pins (see your mobo manual to locate these pins) for a couple of seconds to
start it up. If you see the BIOS messages on the screen, then the mobo,
memory, and CPU are OK. If not, try a different memory chip.

Anyway, if you can get it to boot with the "bare bones" test, then something
else is causing the problem, such as the case shorting out the motherboard,
bent pins on one of the devices, etc..

If you do not have a mobo manual, you can download one from Asrock.

Good luck.

 

[Dave C.]

Hey,

I just built a new system for keeping the books and i have a big
problem. here's the set-up:

Asrock Mobostar M266 mainboard
Celeron 2.4
cdrw
300 Watt power supply
384 MB SDRAM

(very bare-bones)

the video is on-board (shared 32mb)as is the sound 2-channel.

That's a rather old board (in terms of when it was first manufactured) with
a rather new CPU. You should read the owner's manual and triple-check all
jumper settings on the mainboard. If everything looks good there, try
flashing to the latest BIOS:

http://www.asrock.com/support/Download/dl_M266.htm#bios

Then clear CMOS again. If it still doesn't boot, that's probably why it was
sold as is. -Dave

 

[Matthew Unger]

Matthew,

Putting in a hard drive would really help since you never mentioned it.

Yes, there is a hard drive - a 10 gig western digital caviar ide...

matt

 

[Matthew Unger]

Matthew,

Putting in a hard drive would really help since you never mentioned it.

Ha, yes, well...there is a hard drive, a measely 10 gig, but its quick
and good enough for the books.

But i did find the problem - and this might help other people out as
well that may encounter a similar problem.

I had found out that the celeron 2.4 ghz 533 mhz fsb processor is a
little bit finnicky - i tried it out on another computer (actually 2 -
both with 800 mhz) amd they both wouldn't post. i tried a mobo with a
specific 533/400 mhz fsb and it started up fine. I think it has
something to do with the voltages of the 800 fsb being different than
the 533 fsb (anyone care to comment?)

but also - the reason why i had this problem in the first place - with
the mobostar m266 (400 fsb only) - was that i had a monitor that was
toasted and was sending out some bizarre signals which had originally
toasted my mobostar motherboard and must have shorted it out somehow
(again, anybody know why or how?). the kick in the ass is that i
found this out by getting a *new* mobo, setting everything up, but
unknowingly using another monitor to set everything up with so it
worked great ( a linux system, fyi!!) until i put it all back together
all clean and shiney and happy and put it with the monitor it was
going to be stationed with (the one that is pooched) and suddenly
everything fizzed out AGAIN!!! i have a better motherboard in my main
computer with warning capapbilities and vid card (i know, danger
danger) and i tested it out with that one and i got it beeping at me
like i was stepping on its tail (but didn't short it out thank god).
so the long and the short is that i have eaten 2 motherboards, more
than 120 bucks, just to figure out that the spare monitor i had was
screwed (in the trash with it). a lesson to be learned for others out
there, i guess.

hope others have better luck,

matt

 

[Papa]

I seriously doubt that a defective monitor could damage your motherboard
unless you threw the monitor at it. Did you? ;>)

 

[Matthew Unger]

I seriously doubt that a defective monitor could damage your motherboard
unless you threw the monitor at it. Did you? ;>)

Actually...well, only after the the motherboard was fried. and really
that is the only reason that i could deduce from everything that i
tried.

matt